Anywhere Vegan

Hiking the famous Spanish pilgrimage routes as a vegan

I have a really soft spot in my heart for the Camino. When I studied abroad in Spain, I took a trip to Galicia and decided to do a few days of the Camino Inglés, or the English Way, on a whim. That short trip sparked my Camino fever, which eventually grew into a love of hiking and backpacking. For this, I am forever grateful. After that trip, I couldn’t stop doing Caminos! Throughout the four years I lived in Spain (and the summer of our Euro-bus trip), I did the Camino Inglés, the Camino Primitivo twice, the Camino del Norte twice (the second time with Jordan and opting to connect to and finish on the Camino Primitivo), the Camino San Salvador, the Camino Vadiniense, the route past Santiago to Muxia and Finisterre, and a few day trips on the Camino de Madrid (straight from our front door!).

By the way, if you are interested in any of these routes and want more information or advice, just message us. We love to talk about the Camino! All but one of these Caminos we did as vegans so we have plenty of advice on how to plan and carry out a vegan camino. Let us say, it is so possible and getting easier and easier as Spain becomes more vegan friendly! Don’t let people tell you it will be difficult or try to dissuade you from your vegan camino.

This article is written based on an assumption you speak no Spanish so if you do speak a little, things will be even easier! Especially if you don’t, but really regardless, you should have a phone data plan. For example, the Orange “go walk” plan includes a prepaid SIM (which you purchase separately) and costs 10 euros per month for 10 GB data and 20 min of calls. Having phone minutes vs data only will also be useful to call albergues. Then you can definitely download and use Happy Cow, and also Google translate – add Spanish as an offline language to maximize data, and you can even use the camera feature to translate food labels live in a store. Other cell phone companies in Spain that do pre-paid, or “prepago” plans are Vodafone, Yoigo, and Movistar.

Our vegan hiking plan and general notes:

We cooked for ourselves most of the time. To make sure we’d always be able to eat at even the most poorly equipped of albergues, we bought Sea to Summit collapsible bowls. We also brought our own cutlery and a Swiss Army knife. You can buy these products before you leave for Spain, or at Decathlon once you get there. (Be careful with the knife and hiking poles, they can only go into checked luggage!)

Each time we arrived at a place, we’d get enough food for breakfast/snacks, dinner that night, and sometimes lunch for that day or the following depending on how long we had hiked that day or were planning to hike. When we got to the albergue, we’d check the facilities in the kitchen and go to the store based on what we saw. Albergue doesn’t have pots to cook hot meals? No problem – we’ll get salad or sandwich materials. Albergue is fully equipped? It’s gourmet cooking time!

One thing you MUST be aware of when you are hiking is whether you will arrive in town on a Sunday or a holiday. Depending on the size of the town, stores might be closed on these days and you should plan to buy and carry extra food for these circumstances.

Some tiny towns might not have supermarkets and only have small “general store” type shops. At these places, you will still be able to get a basic meal! Lots of beans and vegetables come in glass jars, which are cheap and available everywhere. Of course, the downside is that these are heavy, though we have been known to carry them for a few days when there was a Sunday or a holiday to plan for. We’ve also hiked with bottles of wine, though, so if you’re ultra-light this might not be the plan for you! Just keep the calendar in mind and you’ll be able to avoid a heavy carry by stocking up on lighter items in bigger cities.

Though we have only done the last few days of the Camino Frances, we really think the Camino Frances has better infrastructure overall than other Caminos as it is the most popular and heavily trafficked. So, it’s very possible that if you’re doing the Frances, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to find supermarkets or even vegan options in restaurants. Many bars even in small towns now will have soy milk for coffee, you can ask for “un café con leche de soja” or say “¿tenéis leche de soja? (de almendra? de avena?”) if you want almond or oat milk.

In any typical bar for breakfast you might find tostadas con tomate y aceite de oliva, or tostadas con mermelada. For lunch or dinner, if really desperate you can usually order ensalada mixta sin huevo and sin atún which will be just a basic vegetable salad. Fries will be vegan as well (I know, the typical “side salad and fries” option. You usually won’t have to resort to this, don’t worry!).

Check out this article for ideas of restaurant food you can order in Spain that is naturally vegan. Bigger cities will have vegan or vegetarian restaurants for you to treat yourselves – check Happy Cow and depending on your route you’re sure to find some vegan or vegetarian restaurants! If nowhere else, definitely stop at Entre Pedras in Santiago de Compostela for some cheap and tasty vegan food to reward yourself for finishing – we ate there twice the last time we were in Santiago.

A few notes on supermarkets and products:

All supermarkets in Spain will have a good selection of non-dairy milk, produce, bread products, beans, pasta, etc. Otherwise, their vegan-friendliness varies.

Dia: A very common supermarket, not the best one but often the only one. Dia is among our least favorite supermarkets in Spain, but its prevalence on the Camino makes it worth a mention. Dia will not have many specialty vegan products, but they (usually) have hummus, guacamole, and, if you can find it, onion/red pepper jelly that we would put on bread to make sandwiches.
If you find a Mercadona, you are in luck – that’s our favorite supermarket in Spain! They have lentil pasta which is high protein and great for an easy dinner, vegan ice cream, vegan pizza, vegan meat/seitan/hot dogs, frozen vegan pizza, many varieties of hummus, vegan baked goods and empanadas in some locations, and lots of other good products like cheap nuts and dried fruits.
Lidl has a ton of vegan options now! They released a huge and extensive line of vegan products in January 2022 that includes many types of vegan cheese, meat, fresh and frozen pizzas, yogurt, ice cream and more. You’re in luck if you come across a Lidl on your hike. You can also find vegan tortilla española, lots of cheap hummus, tofu, vegan protein powder…basically anything your heart desires. We love Lidl!
Eroski will be very common especially in the north of Spain and especially in the Basque country. Besides the basics, they will have VIOLIFE cheese and veggie burgers in some stores.
Carrefour is very vegan friendly as well, with a wide variety of vegan meats and cheeses. Usually their products are a little more expensive, but they do have some great deals if you can get lucky! The bigger Carrefours now offer their own “Carrefour veggie” line, which includes vegan tortilla española, veggie burgers, and more.

There are some other regional supermarkets whose offering will be similar, and you will be able to find at least the basics everywhere.

Spanish names for common animal ingredients

European labeling of food products is quite good – they are required to put allergens like milk and eggs in bold. You’ll also be able to easily distinguish between many foods that are “vegetariano” vs “vegano” because they will be labeled as such.

Ingredients to Avoid: leche, suero or suero en polvo (whey), productos lácteos (dairy products), miel (honey), huevo, claras de huevo (egg white), yema (egg yolk), mantequilla (butter), manteca (lard ew)

A few more things:

*Ácido láctico* is just lactic acid and is vegan so don’t get confused by its dairy-sounding name.

*”Puede contener trazas de” or “puede contener” is just talking about traces of products for allergy purposes, so it’s vegan unless you care about traces.

*As mentioned, the European Union is good about having typical allergens in bold which will help you spot milk and egg products easier.

BIG BONUS: https://www.veganoporaccidentespain.com/ (site in Spanish) is an extremely extensive list of all “accidentally vegan” products at supermarkets in Spain, with pictures included. If you have time, definitely check out their lists. You can also search by supermarket or by product. We also recommend following their Instagram which has tons of pictures of vegan products you can find in various supermarkets and should give you a great idea of what you can find in different places.

Vegan on the Camino: Ideas for on the trail lunches and snacks:

You can’t go wrong with typical vegan trail food: nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, cookies etc.
We loved this “struggle” sandwich combo: pimientos de piquillo (jarred roasted red peppers), fried onions for taste and crunch, and often olives as well. Weird but good. We put guacamole or onion/red pepper jelly on as a condiment. I only say “struggle” meal because often there are heartier options available, like hummus. In bigger cities you can find tofu, vegan cheese and meat for sandwich-building. Sandwiches were our most common lunch, as the bread in Spain is too delicious not to have every day.
Olives (as mentioned above in our favorite struggle sandwich) are cheap and easy to find and you can get them in small plastic bags, which are good for hiking because they are light. So we had a lot of sandwiches with some combo of the above ingredients, and hummus when we could find it.

Ideas for at the Albergue

Once you’ve gotten where you’re going and don’t have to carry your food anymore, you have so many more options. Pro tip: check the albergue or hostel kitchen BEFORE you go to the grocery store, as some are better equipped than others and sometimes might not even have basic cooking utensils.

If your albergue has good cooking facilities:

We loved making Knorr brand “Cebolla” (onion) soup. It comes in an envelope and cooks quickly and easily. We would often add a jar of beans to this soup and often another can of vegetables, like corn. This dish was delicious and so fast when we were too tired to do any serious chopping, prepping or cooking.
Any combination of tex-mex style meals with beans, rice or tortillas, guacamole, corn or other vegetables. Sometimes we’d get super fancy and make nachos with doritos instead of rice or tortilla. PRO tip – the vegan doritos in Spain come in a green bag marked “Chilli.”
Pasta is another go-to and if you can find lentil pasta you’ll have a high-protein meal.
Sometimes you just feel like ramen will really hit. Some vegan noodle brands we’ve found include Yakisoba Classic (Gallina Blanca brand, red label or Maggi brand with a yellow label and marked “Fusian”). Be careful because the noodles marked “Oriental” are NOT vegan.

Specific vegan cookies we like: Gullon Digestive Oats choco comes in a blue box – all their digestive cookies are vegan except for the chocolate covered ones. Campurrianas cookies are also good. Check the cookies section if you have a sweet tooth because many are accidentally vegan.

If your albergue’s kitchen sucks or you want a no-cook meal:

We’ve made many a salad using bagged lettuce and whatever we were in the mood for at the time. Again, it’ll definitely help to bring your own bowls and eating utensils.
Gazpacho and salmorejo are both really good cold tomato soups, salmorejo is thicker and heartier and will be available in all grocery stores in cartons or bottles.
If you can take advantage of Spanish produce it’s usually great and inexpensive.
There are a few brands of seasoned beans or soup that are vegan – these make a good meal in a pinch even when eaten cold. Some of these include Litoral Vegetal Garbanzos con Espinacas, and Dia brand Lentejas con Verduras. The brand Litoral also has a canned line called “Hoy Legumbres” which look vegan but have meat in them – STAY AWAY. Those are the sneakiest looking ones, but I’d also avoid other ones that look like beans but are traditional Spanish dishes like fabada, cocido, or even lentejas because they will definitely have meat in them.
As mentioned above, It’ll be easier in bigger cities to find supermarkets, like Mercadona or Lidl with already prepared vegan products that require minimal cooking. Go wild in town when you get there.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this Vegan Camino guide and that it’s reassured you that a vegan Camino will not be a problem. If you have any more questions or comments, please message us. Buen camino!

Vegan Camino de Santiago